Sliding shelf sectional bookcase



- Nov. 6, 1934.. E. G. ToBoRGy 1,980,116

SLIDING SHELF SECTIONAL BOOKCASE Y Filed June 27, 1932 3 vwa/wtofa En/@ZL Q 7550/?` l Patented Nov. 6, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to sectional book cases and has for its principal object the provision of a sliding shelf adapted to be applied to any existing sectional book case. Y 5 A further object of the invention is to provide a sliding shelf arranged for convenientI reception of a plurality of circulars or pamphlets so that these can be in position for ready selection from a group representing some class.

Prior to the use of the sliding shelf covered in this application it has been the practice to employ large cabinets having drawers and stationary shelves and to file the circulars away and rely entirely upon the labels on the outside of the drawers to .determine the contents. In the present scheme the circulars 'are kept clean and in perfect order in the sliding shelf and yet one can merely look thru the glass door of the sectional book case and ascertain the contents of the several shelves without any need for labels, provision however being provided for labeling whenever so desired. The shelves can be placed in the sectional book case at almost any angle and the object to be led away can be qutelarge such as sheets of music or can be very small such as sales slips but the principal use of the sliding shelf will be in connection with circulars or catalogs, the term including such objects as time tables of various railroads.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a sectional cabinet employing a plurality of sliding shelves.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of one of the sliding shelves removed from the book case.

Figure 3 is a transverse section.

The book case itself is rather conventionally shown including a bottom 10, a top 11 which usually will be missing because the bottom of the upper section forms the top of the next lower section, two side panels or Walls 12 and the customary door 14 with its one or more pulls 15. Ar-

ranged in sloping fashion at a desired angle on each side wall 12 are a pair of spaced parallel cleats 16 of either wood or metal but, preferably the former where the sectional book case itself is of wood. The space 17 between proximate cleats 16 form the slideway for the sliding shelf. The sectional book case illustrated is of the wood type and I therefore find it convenient to replace 50 the lowermost cleat 16 by a triangular piece of wood 18 fitting the entire bottom and having its guiding edge 19 parallel to the cleat 16 just above it.

The sliding shelf consists of a bottom 20 ex- 55 tending the entire width of the inside space of (Cl. 20G-44) the section but iitting a bit loosely except that a spring 2l fast to one or both sides limits materially side to side motion. The spring or springs 21 have an additional function that is quite important, ife., they hold the sliding shelf or shelves at any position to which they are pulled including, of course, the limiting of the tendency for the shelf to move forward by gravity. 4'Ihe bottom 20 of the shelf is preferably recessed as at 22 in the front in the center of each bin and I also provide optional holes 23 in front to back alinement with the holes 22 and about halfway of the depth of the shelf. The longitudinal partitions 24 vary in number in accordance with the size of the booklets to be filed, for example, with a booklet not greater than 3% inches I use seven of these partitions 24 forming eight spaces.

Inasmuch vas booklets of 31/2 inches wide will rarely be greater than seven inches long I subdivide each bin into two sections by means of the 75 blocks 26 arranged approximately halfway from front to back, preferably a little nearer to one side than the other so as to accommodate booklets somewhat in excess of the half of the depth of the shelf. Exactly similar blocks 27 are provided at 30 the extreme front of the shelf and extending between the margins of adjacent semi-circular recesses or notches 22. The blocks have sloping sides 28 and a relatively short flat top 29. While I slot the center blocks 26 as at 30'to receive the 85 partitions 24 in a single piece I merely groove the iront blocks as at 32 just sulciently to afford support to the front end of the partition 24 which naturally may abut the block 27 in case it is not desired to groove the block. At times I prefer to make the blocks 26 of two separate pieces but I prefer the form previously described in which the block 26 is all one piece and is slotted down its center to receive the partition, the block itself being received in a transverse slot in the body of the base or bottom 20. i

While I have shown a specific embodiment of my invention it should be remembered that the device can vary quite largely from the configuration shownnot only inthe angle at which the shelf slides but in the numbers of the partitions and in the numbers of shelves to each sectional book case section.

What I claim is:

A sliding shelf for insertion in, a section of a sectional book case of usual size, that is, roughly a foot deep and two and a half feet wide, consisting of a single at panel approximating the size mentioned and having a series of linger-holds therein arranged in aline from side to side, a plurality of front to rear partitions spaced from said finger,

' holds and dividing the base panel into spaces narbaci?, and means at the front of thebase panel to .retain booklets or the like in the front bins when the sliding shelf is arranged inthe book case lto slope downward from back t frontto disl play the booklets in all of the bins.

EMIL L. G. TOBORG.y 

